(1) Field of the Invention
The inventive concepts presented herein generally are concerned with devices and methods for providing adequate and efficient ventilation, temperature control, and insulation in poultry houses. The disclosed invention relates to an automated and insulated modular shutter system for tunnel ventilation in poultry houses, the system being self-sealed by the poultry house's internal negative static pressure.
For the cooling of birds in poultry houses in summer, the generally accepted method is to draw a high volume of air into one end of the poultry house and exhaust the same air by fans at the opposite end. In these circumstances the poultry house becomes a wind tunnel with a velocity of airflow of approximately 600 feet per minute. The airflow cools the birds as it passes over them and the airflow further generates a lower static pressure relative to the air outside the poultry house. In order to control the airflow through the tunnel openings, the industry is currently using drop-curtains on the outside of the house located within an area attached to the house known as the “doghouse” area. An alternative solution is to utilize large tunnel doors located on the inside of the poultry house.
The problem with the curtains is that they have very little insulation value when they are closed in winter weather, and therefore the curtains considerably raise the cost of heating the poultry house. The disadvantage with the tunnel doors on the inside of the house is that they must be held shut against the constant internal negative static pressure of the house, which frequently causes them to warp and leak around the perimeter of the doors. This allows cold winter air to be drawn into the house and again, the total heating costs are increased considerably.
(2) Description of the Related Art
Various procedures, equipment, and techniques for raising poultry have been tried for the past 300 years. The following are a sampling of inventive efforts involving the operation of poultry houses.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,966,974 B2 (Jun. 28, 2011; Lorton et al.) discloses an apparatus for housing poultry including a wall with at least one light-absorbing ventilation fan for ventilating the facility and a movable curtain covering a curtain opening. A controller operates the movable curtain to expose an interior of the facility to natural light cycles of an outside environment for a first period and regulating light cycles of the interior for a second period, thereby mimicking daylight duration. The controller operates the movable curtain to limit exposure of an interior of the facility to light to produce a brown-out effect therein for enhancing physical development of the poultry.
US patent application publication 2010/0236491 A1 (Sep. 23, 2010; Rogge et al.) The invention herein is an animal husbandry tunnel door with adjoining extrusions for closing a tunnel ventilation opening typically in a broiler house has opposing faces with top, bottom and side edges. The faces sandwich an insulation layer. The adjoining extrusions have a first door top, bottom and side extrusion, along with a second door side edge extrusion. The first door top, bottom and side edge extrusions each have parallel inner prongs with barbs and adjacent parallel outer flanges forming two slots therebetween for receiving the top, bottom and side edges of the opposing door faces as the inner prongs with barbs pass into the insulation and are held thereat.
US patent application publication 2007/0044787 A1 (Mar. 1, 2007; Brice, M.) shows an air inlet damper apparatus for minimizing the entrance of outside air into a poultry house when the ventilation exhaust fans are running and the radiant tube heater is not operating. The apparatus has a housing with a passage and a coupling flange; a pin that spans the passage and divides the apparatus into a low pressure side and an outside high pressure side, where the low pressure side is in fluid communication with a blower supplying combustion air to the tube heater; a damper blade connected to the pin; a stop; and a means for controlling the damper blade. The controlling means is responsive to pressure. The damper blade pivotally opens away from the stop when there is a static pressure differential that is higher than the negative pressure created by the ventilation exhaust fans.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,492,082 (Feb. 20, 1996; Krevinghaus et al.) discloses a facility for housing animals such as poultry in a well-ventilated and temperature controlled environment. Featured is an electronic temperature controller system for providing manual control, as well as programmed operation, over a plurality of side wall curtains, a plurality of tunnel curtains, a plurality of side wall exhaust fans and a method to instantly visually check the status of, and program operation of each of these devices.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,113,175 (Sep. 12, 1978; Sutton, Jr., J.) is a ventilation method and system for automatically repositioning the adjustable closures in a poultry or livestock rearing facility. A pressure sensor measures the pressure differential between the inside and outside of the house resulting from the operation of one or more exhaust fans, and the adjustable closures are repositioned accordingly by a control device so that the fresh outside air drawn into the house through the ventilation openings enters at an optimum velocity for most effective ventilation of all areas of the house.
WO2002JP06611 (Apr. 10, 2003; Seikichi, F.) The device is a framed mechanism for swinging slats which serves to improve circulation, ventilation, and day-lighting by opening covering devices. Slats are arranged horizontally in a rain shutter door frame composed of upper and lower stiles, left and right rails, and a central stile. An operating slider for operating the swinging mechanism faces to the central stile. The sliding force of the operating slider is converted to a rotational force by a torsion bar and transmitted to the slats through a first transmitting member, a bar member, and a second transmitting member.
CN20051080372 (May 5, 2006; Chen, Z.) A shutter assembly is comprised of a first and a second fixing stile, and a plurality of louvers. Each of the first and second fixing stiles include a flange portion and a connection portion, and each of the louvers includes a rear portion, two lateral ends of which are rotatably connected to the connection portions of the first and the second fixing stile and a front portion for blocking light.